Those times are gone when doctors had to spend years and years in understanding diseases and then trying to find their cure. Nowadays, scientific and technological advancement has made these matters very efficient. And the recent example we have right in front of us is the development of the COVID-19 vaccine.
A vaccine normally takes decades to develop.
Scientists and experts believe that this is a medical miracle that we were able to have a vaccine for COVID-19 within a couple of months only instead of years and years of waiting. The main reason that SARS and MERS vaccines were not developed yet was that there were not enough cases. However, in COVID-19’s case, the transmission was rampant like a wild-fire. So, while it induced panic and a sense of high alert amongst the scientists and researchers all over the world, it also made it a little easy for them because there were a lot of transmissions and it was easier for them to understand the virus’s nature and produce a vaccine against it.
The beauty of this vaccine was that no virus was introduced in the body.
A vaccine is basically an antigen that has the molecular substance of a virus, and when it is injected into a human body, human cells take this molecular substance as a foreign threat and start producing antibodies against this antigen. Now, due to the innate memory of the immune system, whenever a person gets infected by the same virus, their cells start producing the same antibodies to fight off the virus.
For COVID-19, scientists used the genetic information of this virus’s RNA material, and with the help of collaborations amongst some of the giant pharmaceutical companies and RNA therapeutics like BioNTech, Pfizer, Moderna, etc., these scientists were able to develop the RNA based vaccine against this disease.
Now, it will take a while to see if the transmission has decreased with this vaccine, and once that happens, automatically the disease will stop too.
How Genetic Information Helps To Fight Diseases
Many rare genetic diseases are caused due to mutations or alterations in the DNA. Scientists have now found a way to actually alter these faulty DNA sequences through the CRISPR technique. The scientists can manipulate all the information stored in the genome of the living cells.
The technology that is used here is taken from the CRISPR-Cas9 defense system that bacteria create. What they do is that they create a small molecular recording of viral genetic material and store it within their own DNA. Now, this stored viral DNA provides a template for the production of RNA molecules that initiate the production of target proteins or antibodies which fight off the viral DNA whenever it enters their body. This is basically something like a genetic vaccination card that helps in fighting off or curing different diseases that in the past were thought to be incurable.
Robotic Surgeons
Not only the scientists have gained access to ‘play around’ with the genetic material, but we have highly advanced robots that can perform extremely complicated and precision-demanding keyhole surgeries. Keyhole surgery is also better than open surgery because of fewer chances of wound infections.
Personalized test kits to prevent diseases.
Tech companies like DnaNudge produced wearable devices that could scan the edible products and give all the information about their micro and macronutrients and whether they are compatible with a person’s biology or not? They also developed DNA analyzing cartridges as test kits. These cartridges tested for genetic errors too.
Now, with some major tweaks, the company has developed lab-free COVID-testing kits that analyze the viral RNA through a complex testing procedure called PCR. And the results come within an hour of testing.
So, all these and many other tech advancements are going on and ensure an extremely promising future of innovative medicine.
I’m Ava Paul, an experienced news website author with a special focus on the entertainment section. Over the past five years, I have worked in various positions of media and communication at World Stock Market. My experience has given me extensive knowledge in writing, editing, researching and reporting on stories related to the entertainment industry.
